Category: Members

Strigolactones (SLs) were initially discovered as germination stimulants that induce the seed germination of parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae (Striga, Alectra, Phelipanche and Orobanche genera). Half a century after this intriguing biological discovery, it was demonstrated that SLs are actually beneficial for plants, as they induce hyphal branching in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Another 3 yr later, SLs were revealed […]

We have posted a new manuscript on bioRXiv by Collin Hudzik et al. Key findings are: There is no host-specificity in accumulation of Cuscuta campestris microRNAs; they are induced at a certain point in haustorial development. Almost all of the C. campestris genes that encode trans-species microRNAs have a common promoter element. The sequence and context of this element […]

We are very pleased to invite you to the Conference “Overcoming the barriers to adoption of microbial bioherbicides”, which will be held in Bari, Italy, and will last three days (from 26 to 28 September – Mon-Wed), with arrivals on the 25th and departures on 29th. The main intent of the proposed Conference is to […]

Edited by Maurizio Vurro, David Chikoye and Jonne Rodenburg. At the occasion of this year’s 16th World Congress on Parasitic Plants (WCPP) in Nairobi (from 3-8 July, 2022), Weed Research is launching a Special Issue dedicated to the fascinating world of parasitic weeds. Submissions focusing on all aspects -from biology, physiology and ecology to management- […]

Striga hermonthica infestation is a growing pandemic threatening global food security. It produces countless dust-like seeds that are persistent in soil. Recently we published an article on the detection and quantification of Striga seedbank in agricultural soil, in the Journal of Weed Research. The high-throughput method we developed combines the traditional flotation method with qPCR-based […]

Striga (Striga hermonthica), commonly known as witchweed, is an obligate root parasitic weed that poses a major threat to global food security and cereal  production in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, uncontrolled Striga infestation is causing significant losses in cereal production, affecting crop yields of cereals equating to at least $7 billion each year. There has been […]

Dear respected society members, I would like to share our website “Strigasolution”. We tried to show our ongoing activities on the Striga Control Project, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Home   Muhammad JAMIL     […]

Dear members of the IPPS, In addition to our conference in Kenya this summer, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (https://www.iufro.org/) is organizing a parasitic plant session during the 2022 meeting of its Forest Health, Pathology and Entomology work group. The conference will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 6 to 9 September 2022 […]

The development of the infection organ of the parasitic angiosperm genus Cuscuta is a dynamic process that is normally obscured from view as it happens endophytically in its host. We artificially induced haustoriogenesis in C. campestris by far-red light to define specific morphologically different stages and analyze their transcriptional patterns. This information enabled us to extract sets of high-confidence […]

Using MALDI-MS imaging, we visualized the localization of trisaccharide planteose in the dry seeds of Orobanche minor. Planteose was revealed to accumulate outside of the embryo, which supported the role of planteose as a storage carbohydrate. Since the first step of planteose is the hydrolysis of α-galactosyl linkage, we surveyed α-galactosidases in our transcriptome data. Among the […]